Understanding the Buying Committee: Research for Multi-Stakeholder Sales

In complex B2B sales, you’re not selling to a person. You’re selling to a buying committee: A group of stakeholders who each have different needs, incentives, and deal-breaking questions.

If your marketing is written like you’re talking to one decision-maker, you’re missing the mark. At Borrowed Pen, we use targeted research to help clients understand exactly who’s at the table and how to speak to each person without muddying the message. Here’s how.

Who’s on the buying committee?

It varies by industry and offering, but here are common roles you’re likely pitching to—even indirectly:

• Economic Buyer: The one signing the check. (CFO, Director of Ops)

• Technical Evaluator: The one who checks feasibility. (Engineer, IT, Product Lead)

• User or End Operator: The one who will actually use it. (Coordinator, Tech, Clinical Lead)

• Procurement or Legal: The one who’ll flag risk. (Compliance, Contracting)

• Influencer: The one who recommends you. (Trusted team lead, advisor)

They don’t all read your emails, but they all influence the outcome.

What happens when you don’t write for them?

You might have:

• A technically sound product page that doesn’t address ROI

• A beautifully designed pitch deck that skips security requirements

• A strong case study that doesn’t speak to implementation or change management

Result? The deal stalls, or worse, disappears.

Not because of your offer, but because one stakeholder didn’t see what they needed to feel confident saying yes.

How research helps you speak to everyone (without confusing anyone)

The safety director, the CFO, and the end user speak different languages, want different outcomes, and scan for different signs of value. Research helps us write like a translator, not a generalist, so each person in the buying group hears exactly what they need to say yes.

1. We identify who’s really involved

Through interviews, deal analysis, and competitor audits, we map the roles that appear consistently across your sales process, even the ones who don’t attend early meetings.

2. We gather messaging priorities by role

We learn their needs:

• What does the engineer care about? Specs, integration, support

• What does the CFO care about? Cost, time to value, risk

• What does the end user care about? Usability, training, workflow

Each one sees value differently. We document that.

3. We build modular messaging

Instead of writing one giant blob of content, we structure messaging that flexes:

• Webpages that show high-level value first, with deeper technical content beneath

• Sales materials that speak to business goals on one side and workflows on the other

• Case studies with role-specific quotes and results

• Emails that adapt by persona

Modular doesn’t mean messy. It means deliberate pathways for different readers.

Real Example:

One of our clients sells SaaS for construction firms.

They used to write for the PM. But we found their deals required buy-in from:

• A safety director

• An IT lead

• An executive who cared about risk reduction

We built them a homepage that starts with the company-wide value, then breaks into “for project managers,” “for safety teams,” and “for IT.”

Result: Less confusion, more leads, faster decisions.

If your content isn’t speaking to the full buying committee, it’s slowing your sales. Want help mapping your buyers and writing for each one? We turn multi-stakeholder sales chaos into clear, role-based messaging. Let’s talk strategy.